Softwoods
A forest is a carbon bank, every tree a deposit.
Agroforestry is an innovative land management system that seamlessly integrates trees or shrubs with crops and livestock, creating forests that grow food in a mutually beneficial manner. This practice includes various methods such as Agroecology, Alley Cropping, Silvopasture, and Windbreaking, all of which contribute to ecosystem benefits like nitrogen fixation, soil conservation, and enhanced biodiversity.
Some Agroforestry systems employ multi-strata strategies or adopt a forest garden approach. Tree Plantation provides a comprehensive guide to conservation agriculture, emphasizing techniques that balance the need for thriving, healthy forests with the cultivation of edible and medicinal plants, ensuring harmony within the ecosystem.
Agroecology is a scientific discipline focused on designing and studying agricultural ecosystems that are diverse, resilient, and sustainable. By understanding ecological processes within agroecosystems, agroecology aims to enhance agricultural productivity while promoting environmental sustainability. Its scope encompasses practices such as Intercropping, Conservation Agriculture, and Traditional Agriculture.
Intercropping involves cultivating multiple crops in the same field, boosting productivity, diversifying income sources, and mitigating the risk of crop failure. Conservation Agriculture emphasizes minimal soil disturbance, continuous soil cover, and diversified crop rotations to improve soil health, increase yields, and promote sustainability. Traditional Agriculture integrates indigenous and local knowledge systems into farming practices, preserving cultural heritage, advancing food sovereignty, and fostering sustainable ecosystems. This approach aligns with the concept of forests that grow food, harmonizing traditional wisdom with ecological balance.
Alley cropping is an agroforestry practice where rows of trees or shrubs are grown between rows of crops. This method offers numerous benefits, such as reducing soil erosion, providing shade, and enhancing soil fertility through nitrogen fixation.
Examples of Alley Cropping:
Benefits of Alley Cropping:
Agroforestry—forests that grow food by intercropping trees and crops—has been practiced for thousands of years across various cultures. Today, agroforestry is seen as a viable solution for combating climate change.
An edible forest landscape contributes to carbon sequestration by capturing carbon within the forest ecosystem. Forest floor plants feed on decaying organic matter, preventing carbon from escaping into the atmosphere. Agroforestry systems also reduce ambient temperatures, mitigating the “heat island” effect caused by global warming.
With the right plant selection and management, agroforestry can match the productivity of open-field farming. A million agroforestry acres could yield 10 million pounds of food, feeding hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.
Forests with edible ground cover also conserve water, using up to 50% less than traditional plantations or open-field farming, making agroforestry essential for water-scarce regions around the world.
Plantation forests, even in monoculture tree stands, contribute to biodiversity at a basic level. Birds thrive in the tree canopy, while the forest floor develops a natural “green manure” layer from fallen leaves. This decaying organic material nurtures fungi and small organisms, creating a fertile environment. Over time, non-woody plants germinate from this nutrient-rich layer, forming an understory ecosystem. As this ecosystem evolves, small animals settle in, attracting larger wildlife like deer and elk. Within a decade, agroforestry intercropping practices foster a thriving, diversified ecosystem across the plantation.
Benefits of Agroforestry for People, Plants, Animals, and the Environment:
People: Agroforestry enhances food security, livelihoods, and environmental sustainability. By creating diverse agricultural landscapes, it supports a wider range of crops and livestock, reducing dependence on single crops. Farmers also benefit from non-timber forest products, such as fruits, nuts, and medicinal plants, which provide additional income sources.
Plants: Agroforestry improves soil health, enhances genetic diversity, and boosts water retention. Trees and shrubs enhance soil structure and nutrient cycling, increasing fertility. Genetic diversity in crops helps reduce the risk of crop failures caused by pests and diseases, ensuring long-term agricultural productivity.
Animals: Agroforestry provides habitats for diverse wildlife, including insects, birds, and mammals. Trees and shrubs offer nesting sites, food, and shelter, promoting biodiversity and supporting ecosystem health. These systems also provide forage for livestock, improving animal health and productivity. Additionally, agroforestry plays a vital role in conserving endangered species.
Environment: Agroforestry contributes to carbon sequestration, enhances soil and water quality, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Trees in agroforestry systems absorb atmospheric carbon, mitigating climate change. These systems also reduce soil erosion and nutrient runoff, improving water quality. By decreasing reliance on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, agroforestry minimizes greenhouse gas emissions. The use of biodegradable ground covers further controls plant growth and boosts edible plant yields.
In the industrialized West, forests that grow food are rare, but in many tropical regions, landowners have practiced integrating trees and agricultural crops for generations. For example, in Latin America, coffee plants traditionally thrived under the shade of trees. However, in the 1960s, new coffee plant breeds capable of growing in full sun were introduced. These sun-loving coffee plants soon proved problematic—they required expensive and frequent fertilization and became highly vulnerable to pests. Productivity and profits declined, and many of these sun coffee plantations were eventually abandoned, with the land reverting to its natural state. Agroforestry could have provided a sustainable solution for these Latin American growers.
In the UK, tree farmers are experimenting with forests that grow food by integrating traditional agricultural crops with trees. During the early stages of tree growth, when the canopy hasn’t fully developed, various vegetables can be planted throughout the grove. Pole beans and pea plants can climb the trunks and branches of young trees, while melons and squash thrive in the spaces between tree rows. Raspberries, blackberries, and currants grow well between agroforestry tree rows, even as the canopy develops and creates more shade. Additionally, many herbs, such as parsley, cilantro, basil, mint, and rosemary, flourish in the acidic soils of a forest floor, demonstrating the potential of agroforestry to harmonize food production with forest ecosystems.
Partner with us in a land management project to repurpose agricultural lands into appreciating tree assets. We have partnered with growingtogive.org, a 501c3 nonprofit, to create tree planting partnerships with land donors.
We have partnered with growingtogive.org, a Washington State nonprofit to create a land and tree partnership program that repurposes agricultural land into appreciating tree assets.
The program utilizes privately owned land to plant trees that would benefit both the landowner and the environment.
If you have 100 acres or more of flat, fallow farmland and would like to plant trees, then we would like to talk to you. There are no costs to enter the program. You own the land; you own the trees we plant for free and there are no restrictions; you can sell or transfer the land with the trees anytime.
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